James and Ola Jordan share health update after ‘very ill’ daughter Ella, 3, was rushed to A&E and say they will be forced to miss the Strictly final

Former Strictly stars James and Ola Jordan have shared a health update with fans after 'very ill' daughter Ella was rushed to A&E on Friday.

The three-year-old was taken to hospital after suffering an 'extremely high temperature' and remains under doctor's care, meaning the family will have to miss the BBC dance final.

James, 45, who appeared on the series as a professional between 2006 and 2013, wrote on Twitter: 'Hi guys, not sure if we'll be home in time to watch Strictly LIVE which is a shame but we're still here still. hospital with Ella'.

He then explained how her condition was thankfully improving and said: 'She is doing much better and slowly recovering, lots of daddy cuddles when we get home'.

Later, Ola, 41, who also danced in the show between 2006 and 2015, took to social media and Instagram to pay tribute to show finalists Ellie Leach, Layton Williams and Bobby Brazier.

Writing: 'Good luck to all the couples for the Strictly Final tonight. Here's a photo of me and Chris winning in 2009 (when Strictly was in black and white 'feels like a lifetime ago)'

“It was the most magical feeling to know that you all voted for us and that we were the people's champions.”

Moving on: That's what I love about Strictly – it's not always the best dancers who win, but the ones the audience fell in love with the most or made the most progress over the course of the series.

“I'm so excited for them all and can't wait to catch up and check it out soon, Keep Dancing.”

James has explained it before how he and his wife were initially told by a doctor that their daughter had a simple viral infection.

They felt the problem was more serious, but followed the doctor's advice to continue giving her Ibuprofen.

However, Ella's condition did not improve over the next two days and so they took her back to A&E where they were met by 'caring' nurses and an 'attentive' doctor.

James shared several photos of Ella in hospital and wrote: 'My little warrior!! We are still at Pembury Hospital but she has finally turned the corner after 5 days and long nights of battling an extremely high fever.

'It started on Monday but on Wednesday night it got quite bad and the temperature was 40+ so they took her to A and E around midnight where a doctor had a quick look at her and said it was a viral infection and told us we had to continue with Calpol/Ibrofen and take her home and it would take its course.

'I've tried to say it looks more like a respiratory infection than a viral infection, but I'm not the expert. He also told us it wasn't because he listened to her breast.

'After we got her home, we kept a log of every time we gave her alternating Calpol and then Ibuprofen (2 hours apart). After two more horrible nights where her temperature stayed around 39 – 40 and she vomited several times in her sleep.”

After returning to the emergency room, James and Ola discovered that Ella was actually suffering from a chest infection and tonsils.

'And even though we felt like we might be wasting the doctors and nurses' time and looking like overprotective parents, we decided to take her back to A and E.

'GOOD!! What a completely different experience – we were met by caring and fun nurses who were 100% attentive and by a doctor who was so thorough and left nothing to chance.

'Ella clearly didn't look well and was sent straight to the X-ray department – and had blood drawn almost immediately by a totally amazing team of nurses who I thank so much.

'The results came back because she had a chest infection and tonsillitis.

Previously, James slammed finalist Layton by saying he believes the star shouldn't have been in the line-up in the first place, as he insisted he was the “best dancer” to see the show.

He told Hello magazine: 'It's the best dancing I've seen in all the Strictly Come Dancing events around the world. I loved it, I watched it and thought, oh my god, that was epic, but does that make it good?

'Is that what Strictly is meant to be? Has it gotten to the point where we have fully trained dancers on the show? To me it's not what Strictly should be.

“It was so good, but what is everyone else supposed to do? So for me, I would say to anyone thinking about doing Strictly, don't do Strictly unless you're a trained dancer.'

Strictly Come Dancing: The Final is on Saturday December 16 at 7pm, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer